Eileen Roberts
By Eileen Roberts
Kate is sitting in her garden. It’s a beautiful summer’s evening. She’s thinking, where has life gone, I am in my sixties, the children are all married with their own children, Tom’s passed away, what’s ahead of me? Suddenly she sees a big bright light up in the sky. It draws nearer and nearer and she realizes it’s a space ship.
It’s landing in her field in front of her house. She runs down the field. The door opens and a man walks down the steps. “Don’t be frightened,” he says, “I am from the planet Nirvana and I have come to find out about your planet.” They shake hands. “My name is Troy,” he says. She says, “My name is Kate.”
They sit down and Kate tells him he has landed on the planet Earth. He asks her what kind of a place Earth is. She says it can be happy and it can be sad and violent. She tells him about the millions of people fleeing the African countries due to war, and how the rest of the world does not want to take all of them. She tells him about the wars in the Middle Eastern countries, the killings and bombings and her despair as to how it all can be solved.
He tells her about his own planet, how peaceful and happy a place it is, and how nobody gets old.
They chatted some more and then Troy said, “Would you like to come back with me?” Kate thought for a moment and replied, “Yes, I would.”
They took off, climbing higher and higher up in the sky. She could see Earth way down below and her excitement grew by the minute. Until suddenly she remembered her dog, Jessie.
“Stop,” she shouted, “I forgot to take my dog!” Troy looked at her and said, “If you go back now you cannot return with me.” Kate replied, “I’m sorry, I cannot leave Jessie.”
They landed back on Earth. Troy kissed her goodbye. She told him, “I will never forget this experience.”
Jessie came running up the field wagging his tail. Funny, she thought, it’s still dark.
When she woke the next morning, she thought, what a dream, planet Nirvana – a nice dream, though. After breakfast she took Jessie for a walk. Her neighbour was out in the garden. “Ah, there you are,” said her neighbour. “I called a few times yesterday and you weren’t there, just Jessie. I rang your mobile too but got no reply. Where were you – off gallivanting for the day?”
“Yes,” Kate replied, thinking on her feet. “I went to lunch with some friends and then to the cinema. Bye-bye – I’ll call over tomorrow for coffee”.
Kate hurried up her drive, got into the kitchen and sat down. She turned to Jessie. “I really was on my way to planet Nirvana and I came back for you, Jessie. I could not leave you for the world. But who would believe me?”
